The Midnight Series: Darkness Comes to Light

28. Getting Ready

We walked up another flight of stairs, passing by two different abstract art and three different Surrealism paintings. Richard definitely has good taste in art. We approached a door and Jason opened the door, holding it open, while I walked inside. He followed right behind me, leaving the door open.

I walked in looking around the bedroom. It was very masculine and was the size of my room at my father’s house. There seemed to be a whole wall of windows in front of me. The only solid wall was where the door was and where the bed sat. The walls are painted a very light blue, which made the all the black furniture pop, especially the headboard, the bookcase, and the dresser. I ran my hands along the top of the comforter. It was soft and had parallel stripes with the colors of black and a navy blue. The room was clean and the bookcase had a wide collection of CD’s, records, and books. The bookcase had two small shelves big enough to store the CD’s, while the shelves on either side had a wide range of books and old records. The bookcase ranged from classical, rock, pop, and hip-hop. I looked at the books on the shelves and there was a mixture of genres of books.

I walked past the dresser, where there was a picture of Jason and Julianna. Jason looked no younger than five or six years old in the photo. He was all smiles as Julianna was pushing him on the swing. I smiled at the picture, he was a very handsome kid and has grown up to be quite the ladies attracter. I glanced over at Jason, who noticed what I was looking at.

“You were a very cute kid,” I complemented. Jason gave me a cocky grin. I walked towards the bookshelf, looking at each self, starting from the top shelf. He had poetry books on one shelf: Moby d**k, Emily Dickenson, Maya Angelou, Robert Frost, and more. The shelf had a few fiction and nonfiction books I read, such as the complete Narnia series, The Secret Garden, Romeo and Juliet, Bambi: A Life in the Woods, and The Color Purple. There are a couple of anime books: Sailor Moon, Naruto, and Berserk Volume 1. There were even a couple of history related books that had titles about World War 1 and 2, and the Civil war.

The bookcase was completely filled with books and on the other side of the bookcase there were old and new medical books. I glided my fingertips along the spines of the medical books. The older books seemed to be used a lot and still had the old canvas covers.

The music on the shelves, consisted of Skillet, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Styx, Aretha Franklin, Phil Collins, Adele, Paramore, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Stevie Wonder, Beatles, Elton John, Celine Dion, Beethoven, and Mozart. A variety of genres. He definitely had good taste in books and music. Next to the bookcase in the corner, there was an acoustic guitar. I did not expect him to be the musician type.

I continued to look at the books, not really paying attention to where Jason was in the room. Jason came up from behind me. I nearly jumped forward, hitting my head on the shelf, but Jason quickly pulled me back, by my waist.

“You are very jumpy,” Jason stated, with a chuckle. I was not sure if he meant it as a question or he just was stating the obvious.

“It’s a bad habit,” I confessed, chuckling. I did not like to lie to him, but he would know the truth soon enough.

I leaned into the hug, letting my head rest on his chest, as he held me close to him. My whole body relaxed and I closed my eyes to savor the moment. I rested my hands on top of his. He loosened his hands around my waist, so I turned around to face him. I reached my arms up, standing on my tippy-toes, to clasp my hands around his neck. I took in his perfect, handsome face, smiling at him knowing that he was all mine. He leaned down and pecked my cheeks and the tip of my nose with a gentle kiss.

I have no idea how I got so lucky with this boy. His family likes me, especially his mother and father. I really get along with Jason’s father, he knows more about me than he probably should. Also, I am looking forward to getting to know Julianna and the feeling is mutual. All I got to say is his mother made one handsome little boy, who grew up to love me. How that worked I don’t know, destiny? Maybe Fate? I am not even sure I believe in destiny, but fate brought me to Fort Bragg where I ended up meeting him.

“Like what you see?” he teased, slightly swaying back and forth. I felt like we were slow dancing. His voice pulled me out of my trance. I smiled up at him, knowing he was talking about me gawking at him, though I was lost in my thoughts.

“Yes, it is a very interesting collection,” I told him, with a smirk. “I definitely have good taste in boys.”

Jason shook his head, a chuckle rumbled in his chest as he smiled, leaning in to kiss me on the lips. He let go just as our kiss was getting deeper and more passionate. He groaned, in annoyance and sighed in agitation, “Kali is coming to steal you away.”

“Oh Goodness! Quick, hide me!” I responded, chuckling softly.

Jason chuckled, as he leaned in and kissed me on the lips again. I kissed him back and we parted just as there was a loud knock on the door. Kali stood at the entry of the door, with both hands on her hip. She stood there tapping her foot impatiently.

“If you are wanting to be on time, Emma you need to hurry up,” Kali told me, looking at me and then Jason.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming,” I responded. “I’ll be back,” I mumbled in a low voice to Jason, as I stood on my tippy-toes and pecked his cheek. I walked to the door, grabbing her arm and pulled her away from the room as she gave me a devilish grin. My cheeks flushed red in embarrassment as Kali just watched our public display of affection. I shook my head, knowing she was going to make some loving cooing to increase my embarrassment. I let go of her arm and stopped walking realizing I had no clue where I was going. She chuckled knowing I had no idea where I was or where to go. She took my hand, guiding me through the hall, turning down another hallway before she stopped. She opened a door, walked in, and went straight to the shower, turning it on.

I walked into the bathroom. The bathroom alone was extravagant. The shower and bathtub were separate. The floors were a light gray shade of tile, and there were two sinks. It was definitely an upgrade from any bathroom I’d been in before, public or residential. The shower was all glass sides. I was glad the bathroom had a lock on the door. Kali adjusted the water’s temperature and then showed me the shampoo and conditioner, as well as the body wash that she placed in the shower on the floor. I was going to question her about having the exact same products I use, knowing she had grabbed them when she picked up my clothes yesterday. Kali set a pair of clean clothes on the countertop and draped two towels over the hanger next to the shower before she left. I locked the door and then undressed. I pulled my hair out of the bun, opened the shower door. I stepped in, under the warm water, letting the water saturate my hair and run down my whole body. The warm water felt good on my stiff muscles. I applied conditioner to my hair, and then I scrubbed my entire body with the body wash and the washrag. I scrubbed my face with washrag, and proceeded to rinse the soap off my entire body. I washed the conditioner out of my hair, running my fingers thoroughly through my curls. When I was sure I got all the conditioner out, I turned off the water and grabbed both towels off the hanger. I wrapped my hair up in one of the towels and dried off my body with the other towel. I took the towel off my head and patted my hair. I felt more relaxed after the warm shower. Finally, clean and refreshed.

I grabbed the clothes off the counter and looked at what Kali had given me to wear. She had given me a teal striped tank top and a pair of denim high-waisted short shorts. I put my undergarments on, then pulled on the tank top and shorts on. The shorts were nice, the hem was right at mid-thigh. I tucked the tank top into my shorts, before messing with my hair. I sprayed the detangler into my hair and started combing through my curls. I then parted my hair right down the middle. I started French braiding two pigtails, starting with the right side. I was finished doing my hair, so I grabbed my dirty clothes and my hair products and went back to Jason’s room.

His bedroom door was open, so I walked right in without knocking. Jason was not in the room. I shrugged my shoulders not thinking much of him not being in the room. I saw my backpack and my phone sitting on the bed. I set everything on the bed, opened my backpack, and put my stuff inside, and then zipped it back up. I picked up my phone, and opened it up. I had four missed calls and three text messages all from Danny.

“Sh*t!” I muttered out loud. I looked through the messages. Just reading through the messages I could hear the worry in his tone. I quickly called him back. I put the phone to my ear as I walked towards the window. I pulled the curtain back to see a very breathtaking view. Jason’s room overlooked the trees and he had a small river that ran behind the whole house. The phone rang twice, before I heard a voice on the other end.

“Hello, Emma?” Danny questioned.

“Hey big bro! Sorry, I was in the shower.”

“Oh!” he said, letting out a deep sigh of relief. “I just got into town. I am headed to dad’s house right now.”

“Okay, see you in a bit,” I told him, before I hung up. I turned around, and was surprised to see Jason in the doorway with a tray of food in his hands. I was only thinking he had returned to tell me we were leaving, not to bring me food. My heart swelled, knowing how much he cared about my lack of eating. The smell of bacon made my mouth water and stomach rumble. Jason chuckled at my stomach growling. I rubbed my tummy as I walked towards him, stopping to look at the tray of food. It looked delicious, homemade raspberry muffin, three strips of bacon, scrambled eggs, and a glass of chocolate milk. I was too hungry to ask how he knew my favorite foods. I took the tray and went and sat down on the bed. I ate all the bacon and started on the top of the muffin. I savored the flavor of the muffin, chewing slowly; it tasted heavenly.

I was about to take another bite, when I looked over at the doorway at Jason. He is leaning up against the door in the cool kid way, smiling at me. I rolled my eyes, knowing I would be mocked later for how I was enjoying the muffin too much. I shrugged off his creepy self and went back to enjoying the food. I swallowed the bite of muffin I had in my mouth and took a gulp of the milk.

“I have to get back to my dad’s house. Danny is heading there right now,” I chirped.

He chuckled, nodding his head.

“Are you ready to meet my overprotective brother?” I asked, smirking at Jason. I took another bite of the muffin. I set the rest of the muffin on the tray.

“I think I can handle him. Maybe we should bring my brothers and sisters? We are not going to get to escape the house without Kali seeing us anyways,” he chuckled.

“True. The more, the merrier! Is the Jokester scared?” I teased.

“No, yes! WE are going to be late if we don’t leave,” he said all flustered. I chuckled, shaking my head. Jason pointed to my shoes on the floor. I slipped my shoes on, while he came over and grabbed my backpack. We both headed down the stairs to the living room where everyone was at, except Richard and Julianna. Jason and I walked into the room and Kali looked at me with a big grin on her face. I rolled my eyes at her, knowing she already knows where we are going.

“Keep your ability in check, Missy,” I warned, pointing my index finger at Kali.

“You are no fun!” she said, with a fake puppy dog pout.

"Why thank you!” I retorted, with a playful smile. Kali stuck her tongue out at me.

Jason, Sophia, Mitch, and Bryce were all snickering at Kali and me. Our friendship can reach no bounds.

“Are you guys up for meeting someone from my family?” I asked, looking at everyone.

Everyone looked eager and simply nodded as I bounced back and forth on my feet, excitedly.